CLEBURNE, Texas – The No. 6/5 Texas A&M-Kingsville baseball program used the one-two punch of seniors Joshua Valdez (Kyle, Texas) and Eric Sandoz (Austin, Texas) on Friday at RailRoaders Stadium to cap off a two-win day courtesy of a 3-2 decision over [-/RV] Oklahoma Baptist to wrap the second day of the Alpine Fresh 4-Him Classic.

"We had great pitching performances in both games today," said head coach Jason Gonzales. "The hitters put together a lot of good at-bats and were very aggressive on the bases.

"We still need to clean some things up, but I'm very proud of the team for getting it done in these wintry conditions."

The Javelinas (3-3) gave up an early lead to the Bison (3-3) in the top of the third when PJ Harris roped a double down the left field line to clear Jake Gozzo and Brock Carter from the basepaths. A sacrifice fly from redshirt senior Manny Loredo (McAllen, Texas) in the bottom half of the frame put the Hogs on the board as redshirt freshman Rey Chapa (The Woodlands, Texas) made it home safely.

The contest turned into a back-and-forth affair from that point as Valdez allowed only two baserunners over the next three innings to prevent OBU from increasing the lead.
Meanwhile, TAMUK was held hitless through the first seven innings before redshirt junior Kohl Ullman (Houston, Texas) broke up the no-hitter in the eight on a two-out single dropped into center field.

Valdez gave way to Sandoz in the seventh and the transfer from Nebraska-Kearney struck out two batters in his first inning of work, while a pair of Bison found their way aboard in the eighth before a fly out to left ended the scoring threat.

The Javelinas regained the lead in the seventh after Chapa and junior Austin De Leon (Frisco, Texas) each drew a walk to put runners at first and second with one out. The Hogs drew 10 total walks as a team in the matchup.

Chapa and De Leon both ended up scoring later in the stanza as a fielder's choice ground ball to the shortstop from Loredo brought the former home, while the latter crossed on an errant play from the third baseman to put TAMUK ahead.

Sandoz worked his way through the ninth with three punchouts to bring his total to six to secure his first win for the Hogs.

TAMUK added five stolen bases to their total in the contest against the Bison, bringing the two-game total to 13 after the Hogs swiped eight bases in the win over Oklahoma Christian to start the day.

Following the conclusion of pool play, the Javelinas will be paired up against Lone Star Conference foe UT Permian Basin as the top team from the second bracket for the championship game on Saturday, February 9, with first pitch scheduled for 1:30 p.m. CT at RailRoaders Stadium in Cleburne.

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-JAVELINAS-